According Sergeant Michael Fisher with the east precinct, the police department sees multiple scams involving yard work every spring.

Sgt. Fisher says one example is when scammers show up to a homeowner’s door, offering to mulch their yard.

“They knock at your front door. The guy usually has a five gallon bucket full of mulch [and] says that they’ll do your gardens for 10 bucks. So, they’ll quote a really low price.”

Once the work is finished, scammers will change the pricing.

“They’ll come back and try to charge the homeowner some astronomical amount. They change the story that, ‘Oh, it was $10 per bucket, and I’ve used 10 buckets out here in your garden,” explained Sgt. Fisher.

The homeowner is then on the hook for $100 for a job they thought would only be $10. Sgt.

Fisher says he has seen homeowners taken for as much as $700 in these types of scams.

The same scam can be applied to other services, like offers to clean gutters, trim trees, or lay gravel. Metro police recommend not accepting services of people walking door-to-door offering yard work.

“Be skeptical, and if you need some kind of service for your house, go look for that yourself as opposed to just accepting the person that knocks at your door,” said Sgt. Fisher.

He suggests getting recommendations from friends or seeking out reputable companies.

If anyone suspects a person of peddling a lawn care scam they should contact police.

“It would be good to call us because it’s suspicious activity, and we like to mitigate these issues from going throughout the entire neighborhood.”